It finally warmed up enough last weekend to put in the garden...about three weeks later than last year, which I guess means that instead of harvesting in August & September, this year it will be September & October.
But who cares, because this year we planted 18 tomato plants. You can say tomato, or you can say tomaaaato, but I say YUM! Tomatoes! In sandwiches, in soups, homemade sauce, in salads, or with just a little bit of salt & pepper & fresh basil on a plate as a side dish. This to me is a slice of heaven here on earth. I guess since there's only two of us, but 18 of those plants, I'll be "putting up" tomatoes for a while this Fall. Something to do besides making countless quarts of applesauce!
To add to our little Italian garden we planted 6 pepper plants - red, yellow, baby, jumbo, we've got 'em all. And celery and onions. Can you smell the spaghetti sauce now? I can!
New to our garden this year is fennel. Another "perfect" food, it goes in soups and salads and honestly, if I think about it, I can say I've eaten both tomatoes and fennel every day for about the last 3 weeks. I wasn't sure about starting fennel from seeds, but Martha Stewart is growing it in her garden in Maine, and by God, if she can do it, so can I.
Until such time as we have our villa in Tuscany, I will make do with eating tomatoes & fennel. From our own garden. That I grew from seeds. And picked myself. Who knew gardening could be so satisfying?
Okay, I know it doesn't look like much now...but just wait 'til August.
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